Some Chrissie Pictures from my Office

Ok...after a bit of nagging here they are =P





My workstation is the bottom one. The others belong to work colleagues.

Actually as one colleague just commented this is the best fun Christmas we have had in all the years she has worked here. Everyone is participating whereas in previous years only one or two people have done decorations. This year it has become bigger than Ben Hur! Me and another girl have tried to sabotage IT's christmas train. We ended up derailing it which has now resulted in a small war being declared. Bring it on Boys!!!

DANGER! DANGER! New Teenage Learner Driver !!!

My niece, Miss 16 finally got her Learners yesterday and is soooo excited! She couldn't wait to tell everyone then got in a huff because nearly everyone, even the guy next door, said they were all handing in their licences and catching public transport lol. What's even scarier is she has asked ME to teach her. *Gulp* She has a fair bit saved for a car so MM and I will take her car shopping, then once she has that she will start with a driving school first and we can take her out for drives as well so she can complete her obligatory log book hours. I have told her she will have to buy an ex-driving school car so I can have controls on my side as well *Grin* Mum has also given her dad's car to trade in. Dad's was a Toyota Camry still in very good nick for its age (about 17 years) so even if she only gets a few hundred dollars for trade-in it will be good. And so begins the next stage of my little girl's life *sigh* She has been spending a lot of time with the next door neighbours as the guy next door is an artist and he held an exhibition at their house last weekend. He does awesome work and since he discovered Miss 16 is also wanting to get into art he has been sort of mentoring her. He has also been encouraging her with her art work and has seen some of her pieces and agrees with what we have been saying that she needs to get a portfolio going. She has now also decided to go back to her natural hair colour which is great!

My Miss 21 has now moved in with her boyfriend at the house in Ipswich. They are housesitting the boyfriend's boss's house while he is deployed overseas for 3 months. When he gets back the boyfriend will then be deployed overseas. Miss 21 rang me the night after their very first night together and said that so far they still like each other and not one fight yet! Miss 21 is incredibly messy whereas the boyfriend who is in the Air Force is a neat freak. We have been invited to dinner there in a couple of weeks when they get settled so I can't wait!

Yesterday I took the day off work to help MM get the house in order. Still waiting for Insurance Assessors to come out and assess the damage from the storm on Sunday. MM spoke to the Telstra guy on Monday when we finally got our phones operational. Apparently the whole street's phone lines went out. There were 3 Telstra guys in our front yard trying to find the Telstra pit and when they found it all the cables and wires were fused together! Was a real mess apparently. Further inspection of the trees near the house showed the lightning passed through 2 trees. The bigger tree had scorch marks all the way down the trunk till it reached the smaller tree splitting it in two and leaving a huge gouge mark in the ground. MM was told if he had been on the phone at the time he'd be dead now. Both our phones have to be replaced as they are dead as well. All in all a pretty lucky escape I'd say.

Well the office Christmas decoration war has started. This place looks like it has been literally moved from the North Pole and Santa has moved his workshop right here! We have snow and lots of sparkly stuff every where! The IT guys have excelled themselves. They have set up a beach umbrella and towells and have a stubby full of real beer and everything! Plus they have a huge video screen playing old Christmas movies and christmas carols playing all day long. The poor guy in the office beside IT has heard all 85 christmas carols about 20 times already! There's lights flashing and carols playing and every work area has tried to outdo themselves with the best treats. There's candy canes and choclates and jelly beans and all other manner of bribery for everyone in the office. This is going to be really fun I think! I did think my work area was really nice but now it looks miniscule compared to others! The battle is on! Will try and get photos and put them up. Our Accountant has stuck Grinch pictures all over his office which is hilarious! He is not a Christmas kind of person...

Anyway enjoy the rest of your day!

"Oh jingle bells...batman smells...."

Yes it's December 1 and only 24 more sleeps till Christmas! My tree will go up tonight when I get home from work because I REFUSE to put up any decorations before 1 December. At work we have a competition for the best decorated work stations and I have just finished putting up my tinsel and my pretty battery operated flashing lights and have had everyone trounce past at least once saying "Oooooh...pretty!". So now the race is on to see who can outdo the others. I'm going to to wait a bit longer to see how elaborate everyone else's becomes before I add any more to my little festive display. One lady has festooned her desk with santa type ballons and has had every one going past with imaginary pins threatening to pop the balloons only for her to produce at least 2 more big bags of balloons and the threat "Bring it on Sister!" Ah it's so lovely to work for a Christian organisation hehe. We do love our christmas here and the smarter ones of us have actually added some Christianity to our display with Nativity scenes etc as a visiting Pastor will be judging. None of us has any idea what the prize will actually be mind you!

Traditionally we also do a Secret Santa which myself and our payroll lady have organised this year. Once we draw out our Secret Recipient we are supposed to do secret little niceities to them. So far my SS has spoilt me rotten :) Every morning I find choclates, poetry, and a beautiful angel bookmark (seems my SS knows me well!) and this morning I received an advent calendar which is now staring at me daring me to demolish all 25 choclates! Ah I love Christmas *grin*

On the home front I have gotten lazy with Christmas now that the kids are all grown and have left home and are doing their own thing. On Sunday I bought a fibre optic tree which has 150 multi coloured lights so all I have to do is unfold it, plug it in and *voila* Christmas tree is up and decorated!

Sunday morning MM and I actually went shopping together to get another TV as he loves the big TV we got for upstairs but now he wanted a smaller version for downstairs in the office. The old one in there has died and he misses the TV there. We tried the Good Guys first and got a quote from them then off to Hardly Normal to see what their best price was and since we had already bought about 5 TV's there last month (ours plus his dad's and their neighbour and our son who all saw our TV and wanted one too!) we knew the guy there would give us a good price which he did.

Happily for MM the Surf Life Savers also had a sausage sizzle going so he was in heaven! He hasn't shopped in about 12 months as he hates it. In fact he has rarely left the house in 12 months and couldn't believe how much has changed in 12 months! So many new roads and shopping centres etc. He was like "that wasn't here before" and "they changed that". I was like "But sweetheart it's been there at least 12 months! You need to get out more!" We also bought some Blu-Ray DVDs to see if they were better quality than normal DVD's and the verdict is not really. We bought a bunch of choclate bars (tried to find Pollywaffles since they are going to be off the market soon and we love them but they were all sold out!). Silly us though left them on the coffee table overnight and all the cholates were like water next day from the heat!

On Sunday, while I was shopping for my tree and my award winning work desk decorations, a massive storm hit. As I was loading the tree into the car I got a frantic phone call from MM saying we just took a direct hit to the house by lighting! He walked into Mr 20's bedroom and it was a war zone. Because his bedroom holds the phone cable housing, the lightning some how blew it apart and shattered his room with bits of pvp plastic. There are scorch marks on the ceiling and on the wall and it actually shattered his TV. Thankfully he was out at the time as it could have been quite nasty had he been there watching TV on his bed as he usually does. So we have had no phones or internet since Sunday and the power we only got back Monday morning. MM reckons it sounded like an explosion and even he damn near shat himself. He raced outside thinking a car exploded or something only to find the tree beside the house split in 2 with a metre long gouge mark in the ground near the tree. He said all the neighbours came running to see what happened and that was when they smelt the smoke. MM was like "Oh crap" and raced back inside to find the mess in Mr 20's room. So yeah by the time I got home it was all done and dusted and we spent the rest of the afternoon ringing family and friends and customers via mobile to say our phones were out and that business was temporarily suspended as we had no power or internet.

As of 30 minutes ago when I rang MM at home, the Telstra guy was there fixing the lines and MM was arguing on the phone with the ISP as they were refusing to fix the internet saying it wasn't their problem and MM has to go through Telstra. The Telstra guy was saying no the ISP has to fix it so I'll let you know who came off worse for wear!

And life goes on...and on...and on...and...

I have been MIA for the past few weeks. Not for any particular reason other than my life has been DULL…DULL…DULL!!!! No point reporting on stuff that’s not happening so I hope you all missed me! Lol…

Work has had its moments. I really think it’s time for me to move on as the challenge here is minimal…it’s all become so routine and dull and it really is an effort to get out of bed, face the possibility of yet another train cancellation/break down/major stuff up and not to mention that it is so hot and I HATE the heat. Don’t bother talking to me when I am feeling hot and bothered unless you are happy to walk around missing major parts of your anatomy! MM thinks it’s hilarious that my mood is icy in summer but he now knows better than to laugh at me while I am in THAT mood. He reckons the tone of my voice while in THAT mood has been known to de-calcify the bones of even the toughest of people. Sheesh thanks babe…

In an nutshell…and I have to admit I don’t really remember much of what has happened over the past month…I have been working, spending weekends at mum’s trying to get her organised enough to sell the house, spending time with Miss 16 and trying hard to keep liking MM! No it’s not really that bad but at the moment I don’t have the patience to listen to anybody and because he is ALWAYS just there and wanting to talk he cops the full brunt of it. I will make it up to the poor baby but right now I need to be left alone!

One bright glimmer in the month that was, was Miss 16’s award day at the school. She won an award for her film she made in her Film and TV class at school. They entered the work of the school in the Cannes Film Festival apparently and her school got top marks. She won for Best Concept, Best Production and Best Editing. This is what she wants to do when she leaves school…get involved in photography and graphic arts and film and television. I’m helping her get her portfolio of photos together as she doesn’t believe they are any good but I think they are fantastic! Her art teachers have also told her she is very talented. So the best we can do at the moment is encourage her and help her believe in herself. The school has organised for her to go to TAFE one day a week next year to study photography when she is in Year 12 and she is very excited about this. This will go some way towards her eventual diploma. She has now decided to grow out the black in her hair and go back to her natural colour…Yay!!! Although she did her ears pierced a third time without telling anyone. I noticed straight away but mum only found out a couple of days ago lol. Her friend works in a piercing place and wanted the practice so she got them done for nothing.

MM was like a kid at Christmas recently when we finally splashed out and bought a 46 inch LED TV. We now have high def yeah! I have been watching GO TV and watching all the old programs…so funny…who needs to pay for Foxtel??? I also got a dishwasher finally…it’s been a few years without one and it’s nice to just load and walk away. No longer tied to the kitchen! Now I just need to hire me a chef to cook the meals yeah! As usual MM managed to talk the asking price down by a couple of hundred dollars enough so that we could get a TV unit as well to fit within our budget so it was all very cool. We really don’t watch a lot of TV but now with the new surround stereo system we also got along with blu-ray DVD MM is dragging out all the old DVDs and re-watching them and really the clarity is fantastic. We have been sitting there watching movies and noticing so much more than we did before. MM is taking great delight in picking up all the bad skin problems some actors have when they do close ups lol. He can be such a child but I love him bless his heart.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...Christmas! Arrrrgh! Everywhere I go lately there seems to be Christmas stuff everywhere. Shops are stocking cards, and papers and food and decorations already. Westfield was actually playing Christmas carols last weekend which I considered to be absurd! Normally I love Christmas but this really puts me off and I refuse to be pressured into buying Christmas stuff in October. Christmas will be a low-key affair this year and I am working on putting in place some new traditions. It will be sad without Dad this year but I am determined to make this Christmas a much more personal and a little more special and give us some time to reflect on his passing. I have the perfect personal gift for mum and my brother and sister this year and I am stressing a little as I haven't finished and I still have a long way to go! I am typing up Dad's memoirs as he wrote them and the hardest part is trying to translate his writing. The beginning was easy and quite legible but as he got sicker it seemed he tried to get more and more down on paper so the writing is harder to read but I am determined to finish it! My idea is to create a photo book done by companies such as Harvey Norman or the one I am using is from a website called Snapfish who make up beautifully bound books and you use their templates to add stories and photos and they print it out on glossy paper and bound beutifully in a leather or fabric covered book. A friend from work did one for her parents and it is absolutely beautiful! So my mission is to get this done. Writing dad's stories has been very therapeautic for me...I've laughed and cried my way all through it and there are stories he has never told us before. Stories from his childhood and his growing years up until he joined the army and beyond. It will be a wonderful gift I think.

Hmmm...now the week that was...nothing much has happened...well maybe it has but was too insignificant to remember! I really need to make notes! Pretty much work all week...oh wait I did have Friday off as MM's niece got married! She had a very quiet, very private registry wedding then invited us all to The Era Cafe at South Brisbane for her wedding reception. That was really nice! She and her new husband are lovely. They just bought a house a month ago and now here they are, married as well. Very exciting for someone that age! The food was of what MM calls "the yuppy variety" ie no cheerios, sausage rolls or pizzas lol. Still very nice but classy kinds of hors doevres. And there was lots of it! The food kept on coming and everyone was like "no, no more!" The wedding cake was a 3 tier mud cake and very nice.

That morning I went to my favourite stores and bought 2 gorgeous tops that were on sale from Crossroads. I was meant to buy one to wear to the wedding but found 2 I liked and bought both! But being on sale I got both for $40 so that was a steal! They will be ideal for Christmas functions as well. Black and silver with diamontes all through...very pretty and I have to admit I think they actually looked great on me. If you check my Facebook page there is a picture of me at the reception wearing one of the tops. I bought a crocheted black top to wear over top of it as well so that's what I was wearing. I bought jewellery from Diva because I love their costume jewellery! And I had a black feathered fascinator for my hair...so yeah I looked pretty classy for a change!

Sunday I spent some time with my niece Miss 16. She wanted to show me some of her graphic art and asked my opinion. And all I can say is WOW! She is really really good. And I told her so. She was pleasantly surprised at my reaction because honestly they are the sort of pics I would frame and hang on a wall. She hadn't thought they were that good and was amazed that I was so wrapped up in them...think it gave her a bit of a confident boost. Her teacher wanted to enter some in a contest but she didn't think they were good but after knowing I think the same she is seriously thinking she should. She does Film and Television at school along with art and she is very good at drawing and manipulating pics on the computer and its the kind of work she wants to do for a living. I told she could easily work for a magazine or in advertising with that kind of art work and she didn't beleive that would be possible. I bought her a magazine yesterday devoted to graphic art and showed her so now she realises there is a market for that kind of stuff and it is inspiring her now to develop her talents more. She wants to go to TAFE when she finishes school and is excited to know she can do photography and graphic art there rather than going to uni. She also eventually told me she will be presented with an Art award at school on Friday. She didn't think anyone would want to go as friends and family are invited but seeing my excitement at her work she decided to ask me. I told her she wouldn't be able to keep me away! So Friday morning I will be late to work and will go and watch her be presented with her award. Dad was always proud of her artwork as he did art before he lost his hand and always encouraged her in her drawing. So she is really keen to make him proud of her. Will post some of her pics here when I get a free moment.

I am really proud of her...

It's hard to soar like an eagle...

...when you work with turkeys.

Well I guess it hasn't been that bad but some days people frustrate me and because I try to be a nice person I find it so hard to not let out inappropriate comments! My tongue is almost ripped to shreds I tell ya!

I've been having a "I really hate my job" kind of week...I don't really HATE my job... it's more that I am more than bored with it and really need the change but with the way things are presently I am not quite game to take the risk of leaving it and hoping that something just as good will fall into my lap. This job is not a bad one and it really does pay very well, so well in fact that my mortgage will be paid up in another 12 months or so which is the incentive I have to stay here at this job. The thing with me is that I have "3 year" cycles. No matter what venture I undertake in life, I get bored with things around the 3 year mark. I have been in this job for 4 years now and really need a new challenge as I have mastered everything and everyone else's jobs so nothing excites me anymore. So unless something really exciting happens or a new challenge pops up I am going to be feeling like I'm stagnating.

On Saturday my brother bought mum a Wii console for her birthday. Oh lordy they are so much fun! My brother, my niece, mum and I all played most of Saturday at 10 pin bowling and baseball and shooting. Didn't we laugh ourselves silly! It was the first time I had heard mum laugh since dad passed and she really had a great time so it was a lovely day.

Sunday I was at mum's again to continue with her de-cluttering. I spent over a month there now and we have barely made a dent! I cannot believe she has so much stuff! We went and bought some packing boxes to start packing stuff she wants to keep but is not using right now. She is really anxious to sell but the way the house is at the moment it's not going to be possible just yet. The back yard is an absolute nightmare...full of bindii and matter of weeds. Dad would cry to see it now...so neglected. He spent so much time out there...his yard and garden was his little patch of paradise. With all of us working though it cannot be helped and with the water restrictions the lawn, what's left of it, is looking pretty drab and disgusting.

Yesterday, Monday, was Mum's birthday so after work, MM, son and I wento to mum's for dinner. We picked up pizza on the way and played a bit of Wii, ate pizza, drank Ricadonna, had what was left of mum's birthday cake she bought home from work and just had a great night. One of mum's sister arrived not long after we did and another couple of her brothers and a sister also phoned her so I think she had a lovely birthday. She was a bit worried because it was her first birthday without dad and he always spoiled her on her birthday but I think we all made up for it and she never really had time to reflect on it. She said she had a really lovely day so I'm glad. Now to get through Christmas! *sigh*

Dum de dum...

Well here I am again...another Monday afternoon where work has quieted down a little.

My weeks lately have been rather uneventful and there's nothing that I can interest you with really! So today's lesson will be my experiences on Queensland Rail Monday through to Friday.

In the last 21 years I have lived in Brisbane and used the city rail network I have seen so many weird and wonderful things! I have realised that there are so many people out there with mental health issues who have slipped through the cracks and it appears they all travel on Cityrail!

I have had a fellow sit beside me on the train who insisted on wanting to tell me his life story and wanting to talk even though it was very clear I had my ipod on and was engrossed in my book. As a rule I don't mind chatting unless I am on the train. When I'm on the train I like to get into "my zone" and listen to music or catch up on reading. I had even politely told the fellow that I really wanted to finish my book and wasn't in the mood to chat and he was like "oh ok then" *big grin* then proceeded to merrily keep chatting away anyway. When I finally got off the train 45 minutes later with a whopping headache a lady who was sitting behind me came up and said she knew how I felt as she usually copped him! She had to end up being rude to him and he has never sat beside her since hence the reason I got him! It's sad as he most probably is very lonely but he was only a young guy, younger than me but obviously has not many friends.

Another time on the way home there was a very dirty, very smelly old man, who smelt like he had bathed in booze and urine at the same time and was sitting in a seat at the back. He had this old garbage bag on the seat beside him and was sitting staring out the window muttering to himself. The train arrived at Central Station and as usual at the end of the working day people poured into the train all desperate for a seat. A well dressed middle aged guy in a suit approached the seat the old guy was in (what was he thinking???) and said I'd like to sit there please and proceeded to move the old guys bag so he could sit. Well...it was like a bomb went off. "Don't you touch my f**** bag you f**** c***!!!" Suit guy almost pee'd himself escaping back down the crowded aisleway with the old dude swearing and cursing about the government and the cops and aliens and ranting and raving. Meanwhile the rest of the passengers were all trying to look away and trying to pretend to be somewhere else! By the way, a lot of people actually moved carriages because the poor guy really stank. I had a seat so decided to put up with the smell and the ranting...again thank god for the ipod!

I have shared carriages with a small group of aboriginal girls who were all squeezed together in a four seater and "chroming". You could smell it and that time I really did have to move or I would have puked and it was making my eyes water! One girl had the very obvious tell tale marks around her nose and mouth and all of the girls were swearing and cursing and if someone looked their way they started abusing them and saying "whachulookinat".

I hate travelling on the train Tuesday to Friday. The trains are always packed like sardines but I'm lucky because I get on at the main stop and the train starts here so I always get a seat. The problem though is that there is a very simple minded young chappy who also catches this same train and always ends up in my carriage. And he is the most annoying person. I think he also has a form of Tourette's. If the train is so much as a second or two late in leaving the platform he will start banging his head on the glass and start throwing around the F-bomb very loudly and making everyone around feel extremely uncomfortable. Us regulars now ignore him as we know he is not all there and thats just how he is. He has another simple minded friend who gets on at the next stop to ours who to his credit keeps telling him to "calm down" and "don't worry about it". But it is something he can't really control so we mostly put up with. Thank god for my ipod as that drowns him out completely!

But the most memorable guy was an oldish fellow who was quite large and when he got on the train was quite packed so he stood in the aisleway. Suddenly he raised his voice and started swearing and cursing atthe person who was standing in front of him. Now it wasn't the poor guy he was yelling at but more that this old guy must have seen his son in this guy and was telling him he was a loser and would amount to nothing. He was saying things like "I told once ya once I told twice all that satan music would get you nowhere...your a loser just like your mother" and so it went on. Then the chap would turn around and find another face in the crowd to start ranting at. After a while he'd get bored with that person and move on down the carriage to pick on someone else. Again very sad but you have to wonder why there are people out there with obvious problems who aren't getting the help they need. It's all very well for us to sit and giggle nervously about "the loony guy" but the numbers seem to grow every day. And sadly for me unless I change jobs and get a car park I will contiunue to have stories like this!